Philippine inflation slows to 1.9% in September 2024

Headline inflation in September fell sharply to its lowest rate in more than four years, driven by a slower rise in costs for food, transport, housing, and utilities like water and electricity, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reports on Friday, October 4, 2024. IMAGE Daniella Marie Agacer from INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Headline inflation in September fell sharply to its lowest rate in more than four years, driven by a slower rise in costs for food, transport, housing, and utilities like water and electricity, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.

Preliminary data from the agency showed the consumer price index slowed to 1.9 percent year on year in September, easing from 3.3 percent in August and 6.1 percent in 2023.

This was also lower than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ projection of 2 to 2.8 percent from the previous month, as well as the 2.6 percent average inflation forecast reported in an Inquirer poll of 10 economists conducted last week.

READ: Inflation likely cooled to 2% level in September, says BSP

“The downtrend in the overall inflation in September was primarily brought about by the slower annual increment in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.4 percent from 3.9 percent in the previous month,” the PSA said in a statement.

Inflation print in September marked the slowest growth in more than four years or since the 1.6 percent logged in May 2020. Stripping out seasonality factors, month-on-month inflation fell by 0.1 percent in September.

For the first nine months, inflation averaged 3.4percent, still better than the 6.6 percent in September 2023.